Condenser



Aug. 12, 1947. R, B, BROCK 2,425,669

CONDENSER Filed Aug. 3,1944

Patented Aug. 12, 1947 CONDENSER.

Raymond Barrington Brock, Croydon, England,

assignor to Townson & Mercer Limited, Croydon, England, a British company Application August 3, 1944, Serial No. 547,883 In Great Britain August 26, 1943 2 Claims.

This invention consists of improvements in or relating to condensers. It has been suggested from time to time that distilled water could be obtained from various steam mains; and indeed it is well known on board a steam ship to condense steam from Various steam mains so that distilled water is produced. However the steam in many steam mains is generally dirty or carries a certain proportion of oily or solid particles in suspension. The object of this invention is to provide a simple and economical method and apparatus for producing distilled water from steam from mains which may be contaminated or which may have some proportion of oily or solid particles in suspension.

According to this invention the raw steam from the mains is passed into the bottom of an aircooled jacket surrounding a water-cooled condenser and the top of the jacket opens direct into the steam space of the water-cooled condenser, so that a minor proportion of the raw steam is condensed in the jacket and entrains the oil or other suspended matter which is thus brought to the bottom of the jacket and carried away to waste while the cleaned steam is condensed by the water-cooled condenser and yields clean distilled water.

The nature of this invention and the manner in which it is performed will be appreciated from the following description of a specific example which is illustrated in the accompanying drawmg.

The apparatus shown is a vertical condenser made in hard glass. An outer jacket has an outer cylindrical wall H and an inner cylindrical wall l2 united to the outer wall at the bottom as at l3 but open at the top as at I4. The inlet for raw steam l5 enters the outer jacket at a point It near the bottom and the raw steam passes upwards in the outer jacket and is subjected to the cooling action of the air round the apparatus so that a certain proportion, say to 20% of the raw steam is condensed and the condensed water in the outer jacket brings down dirt or oil to the bottom of the outer jacket where it is discharged to waste through the outlet H. The steam thus cleaned now passes down inside the wall 12 in contact with a water-cooled condenser comprising a central cylindrical chamber IS with external connection l9 and a helical tube 20 with external connection 2!, the coil 20 and chamber l8 being connected at the bottom as shown at 22. As shown the coil 20 occupies a large part of the space between the chamber is and the wall I 2 and the cleaned steam in its descent is therefore brought into intimate contact with the watercooled condenser. The distilled water collects in the tube 23 and is discharged therefrom.

It will be seen that the bottom of the outer jacket illustrated acts as a trap for the waste stripping water, and it is a feature of this invention that such a trap may be used in any form of primary condenser.

Under normal conditions it is found that the provision of this trap contributes to the efficiency, but it is within the scope of this invention to omit the actual trap, e g. to reduce the distance from the point l3 to the steam inlet conduit [5 and to use a restricted outlet at IT so that all the condensed dirty water plus a small proportion of steam are blown off to waste. Whether an actual trap is used or not, the outlet I1 is such as to prevent any undesired escape of raw steam therethrough.

The use of glass for the apparatus has proved eirective but other materials can be employed if convenient.

With many forms of stills at present in use trouble arises from furring and the cleaning of furred stills is difficult. The furring occurs because the ordinary stills are supplied with tap water which is often hard.

In using the present invention the condenser is supplied with steam from mains and trouble from furring does not arise because the feed water i generally softened, so that even if the raw steam is wet it will not produce furring.

I claim:

1. A condenser having an outer casing closed at one end and a single-walled inner casing disposed within said outer casing and united with said outer casing to form a jacket space, the said inner casing having its end which is adjacent the closed end of the outer casing open to said jacket space, the said outer casing having adjacent its end which is remote from its closed end an inlet for the fluid to be distilled into the said jacket space and an outlet from said jacket space at said end of said outer casing for impurities stripped from said fluid, the said outer casing having on its closed end inlet and outlet connections for a coolant, and a straight tube disposed within said inner casing and connected at one end to one of said coolant connections and connected at its other end to one end of a helical tube surrounding said straight tube, said helical tube being connected at its other end to the other of said coolant connections, and the said inner casing having at its end opposite to the end thereof open to said 3 jacket space an outlet for the distillate therefrom.

2. A condenser according to claim 1, wherein the outlet for impurities at the end of the outer casing is restricted.

RAYMOND BARRINGTON BROCK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Caps Feb. 15, 1910 Number OTHER REFERENCES Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Magazine, Sept. 1941, page 1107. (Copy in Division 25.) 

